Can I give you recipes for steak, corn on the cob, and tomato salad – sure, but do you really need them?  I’ll just run through my methods – if you asked Mickey, the Francophile, he would, for sure, give a long, drawn-out scenario for making the perfect “classic.”  As he said (laughingly) the other night as he watched me mash some strawberries for shortcake with my hands – “See Mom – feet for wine, hands for berries!  Leftover biscuits from breakfast.  I’d have cut my strawberries, then macerated them for a few hours, and put together an elegantly arranged dessert with some kind of cake that had taken hours to make.  That’s the difference between us.”

Anyway, the perfect steak on the grill – I generally use thick sirloin and cook the whole thing (you’ll note in the photos that Mickey took my perfectly beautiful sirloin and cut it into pieces).  Bring it to room temperature, rub the exterior with a little canola oil, and season with salt and lots of pepper.  Build your fire or preheat the grill to medium-hot – when the fire is ready you shouldn’t be able to hold your hand over it for more than a couple of seconds– throw on the steak and grill for about 3-4 minutes per side (depending upon thickness) for rare or 6 minutes per side for medium.  Let rest for a few minutes before cutting.

For corn on the cob – I either put them straight from the farm stand onto the grill and grill until the tassels and husks have insulated them to steamy doneness (no soaking, stripping, seasoning for me) or put about 2 inches of salted water in a large pot and bring it to the boil; add the husked corn and bring to a boil again.  Then, cover and turn off the heat and let rest for about 5 minutes.  If the corn was good to start with, it will be perfect.

Tomato salad – just sliced, ripe tomatoes, a few basil leaves, some salt and pepper and, if you like, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.